Audi deals out excellence awards

Usually when a press release from a manufacturer announcing internal awards reaches the AUSmotive inbox I’ll leave it be. But Audi Centre Canberra have been great supporters of this site, so it came as no surprise that they recently won Audi’s Provincial/Rural ‘Mark of Excellence’ award for the second year in a row.

This is great news for Dealer Principal Richard Rolfe who saw the opening of the new ‘Audi Terminal’ building in 2008.

Coincidentally, the Metropolitan winner, Audi Five Dock, also opened their new facilities in 2008. Full details after the jump.

Audi Honours Top Performance at Annual ‘Mark of Excellence’ Awards

• Annual ‘Audi Mark of Excellence’ awards recognise top-performing dealers
• Audi Five Dock and Audi Centre Canberra win the top award in metropolitan and provincial category
• Dealerships ranked on excellence across all areas of the business

Audi Australia has recognised the winners of the 2008 Audi Mark of Excellence Awards at a gala dinner held at the brand new Melbourne Recital Centre.

The Awards highlight excellence in dealership performance and professionalism across all areas of the business from sales to after-sales.

Audi Five Dock was awarded Metropolitan dealer of the year, with Audi Centre Canberra winning the Provincial/Rural award for the second year running. Coincidentally, both dealerships opened brand new ‘Audi Terminal’ facilities in 2008, contributing to an increased profile within their respective PMAs and highlighting their willingness to invest in the growth of the Audi brand.

According to Audi’s general manager of sales, Andrew Doyle, the Mark of Excellence awards aren’t a popularity contest, or an award for the most sales.

“They are designed to recognise and reward the dealership that performs the best in relation to targets across the board,” said Mr Doyle.

“The awards were also a celebration for our 2008 achievement of 30.2% growth,” said Audi’s managing director, Joerg Hofmann.

Recognising the contribution of all dealerships, Hofmann says that Audi’s year on year growth since 2004 is testament to the efforts of the entire team and dealer network.

“It was a very emotional event. Audi has been running from record to record Down Under, and the entire team has worked extremely hard to achieve our sales results, and ensure our profitability,” Mr Hofmann said.

“We are an incredibly tight and loyal team of people and we appreciate the strengths of this great brand. Nonetheless it still takes determination to succeed and for this we thank our committed dealer network for helping achieve our record results. It was very gratifying to hear several Dealer Principals express their strong desire to be up on stage next year accepting the award. It’s a goal worth striving for,” he added.

And the winners are…

Metropolitan
1st place Audi Five Dock – Ian & Nick Pagent, Dwyer Ogle, Dealer Principals
2nd place Audi Centre Sydney – Allan Brinck, Dealer Principal
3rd place Audi Centre Melbourne – Stephen Heron, Dealer Principal

Provincial-Rural
1st place Audi Centre Canberra – Richard Rolfe, Dealer Principal
2nd place Audi Gallery Newcastle – Wayne Sanders, Dealer Principal
3rd place Audi Centre Cairns – Scott Carse, Dealer Principal

The Audi Dealer of the Year awards were presented at a black tie function held in the new ‘Audi Foyer’ at the Melbourne Recital Centre in Southbank. This world-class performance venue was recently officially opened by Patron, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, on the occasion of her 100th birthday. Coincidentally, Audi also celebrates 100 years in 2009.

Sandra Sully emceed the evening.

Dealer of the Year Awards 2008: Dwyer Ogle, Nick Pagent, Joerg Hofmann, Ian Pagent. (4 March 2009)

Dealer of the Year Awards 2008: Debbie & Richard Rolfe. (4 March 2009)